"New research suggests that brain cells do not age as fast as we thought. The blood vessels that feed neurons are what ages.* If you want to keep your brain healthy, it is critical to protect your blood vessels." Dr Daniel Amen, psychiatrist and author of The Brain Warrior's Way

You probably don’t give much thought to your blood vessels. Unlike aching knees, a poor night’s sleep or forgetting why you walked into a room, you're not aware of them.

Yet, quietly in the background, an extraordinary network of arteries, veins and tiny capillaries is working around the clock, carrying oxygen and nutrients to almost every part of your body.

And your brain is particularly dependent on that supply. It needs a continuous flow of oxygen-rich blood to do everything from remembering a name and concentrating on a conversation to planning your day and regulating your mood.

So when we think about staying mentally sharp as we age, looking after our blood vessels deserves far more attention than it often gets.

What’s good for your blood vessels is good for your heart - and it’s good for your brain too.

So while our blood vessels naturally change with age, many of the things that influence their health are things we can do something about.

What happens to our blood vessels as we age?

The inside of our blood vessels is lined with a thin layer of cells called the endothelium. This helps our arteries relax and widen when more blood is needed and plays an important part in regulating blood pressure and keeping blood flowing normally.

Over time, arteries can become stiffer and less flexible. Fatty material can also accumulate within artery walls, gradually narrowing the space through which blood can travel.

Several factors can accelerate that damage, including:

• high blood pressure

• high blood sugar and diabetes

• higher levels of small, dense LDL cholesterol

• smoking

• physical inactivity

• carrying excess weight

• a diet high in processed foods

Many of these factors often occur together, which is one reason looking after our overall metabolic health becomes increasingly important in midlife.

Your brain has blood vessels too

We often talk about heart health and brain health as though they are separate subjects, but they are closely connected.

Your brain contains an intricate network of blood vessels, including tiny vessels deep within the brain. If these become damaged, narrowed or blocked, brain cells may receive less of the oxygen and nutrients they need.

Sometimes the consequences are sudden and obvious, as with a stroke. But damage can also develop gradually. Changes to the small blood vessels in the brain can accumulate over many years and contribute to problems with thinking and memory.

This is one reason high blood pressure in midlife matters so much. Persistently high blood pressure puts extra strain on artery walls and has been linked with a greater risk of cognitive decline and dementia later in life.

But there’s an important message of hope here.

Midlife gives us a valuable window in which to take action. We can’t control everything about how we age, but we can influence many of the factors that affect the health of our blood vessels - and in doing so, help protect both our body and our brain for the years ahead.

And we don’t need to overhaul everything at once.

Here are seven practical ways to start looking after your blood vessels today.

1. Keep moving

Regular aerobic activity helps your heart and circulation work more efficiently and can help lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

And exercise doesn't have to mean joining a gym. Brisk walking, cycling, swimming, gardening and even energetic housework all count.

It's also worth remembering that movement throughout the day matters. If much of your day is spent sitting at a desk, in the car or on the sofa, look for opportunities to interrupt those long periods of inactivity.

Try this: Add a brisk 10-minute walk to your day, perhaps after lunch or dinner. If you already exercise regularly, focus instead on breaking up long periods of sitting - get up, walk around or climb the stairs every hour.

2. Build and maintain your muscle

Cardiovascular exercise gets most of the attention when we talk about circulation, but strength matters too.

Maintaining muscle helps us remain physically capable as we get older, but it also supports our wider metabolic health. Active muscle uses glucose, so maintaining and using it can help the body manage blood sugar more effectively.

Strength training also complements aerobic activity as part of looking after the heart and circulatory system.

You don't need to become a bodybuilder. Squats, wall press-ups, resistance bands, hand weights and exercises using your own body weight can all help.

Try this: Choose one simple strength exercise and attach it to something you already do. You might do ten sit-to-stands from a sturdy chair while the kettle boils or a set of wall press-ups before your morning shower.

3. Be mindful of what you eat

Think about the overall pattern of what you eat.

Build meals around plenty of vegetables and fruit, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, whole foods rich in fibre, healthy fats such as extra virgin olive oil, and fish - including oily fish.

At the same time, reducing the amount of highly processed food, refined carbohydrates, added sugar and salt in your diet can help address several cardiovascular risk factors at once.

The benefit isn't limited to your heart. A healthy diet, including a Mediterranean-style eating pattern, is also associated with better brain health and a lower risk of dementia.

Try this: Look for one highly processed food you eat regularly and experiment with a simple swap. Choose plain Greek yoghurt with berries instead of a sweetened dessert yoghurt, swap biscuits for fruit and a handful of nuts, or replace some processed meat with eggs, fish, chicken, beans or lentils.

You don’t need to change everything at once. One regular swap is a great place to start.

5. Know your numbers

High blood pressure is sometimes called a silent problem for good reason: you can feel perfectly well while it is placing additional strain on your arteries.

The same can be true of raised cholesterol or blood sugar. That's why knowing what's happening inside your body can be so useful.

Depending on your age and circumstances, that might include knowing your:

• blood pressure

• cholesterol

• blood glucose or HbA1c

These numbers aren't a judgement on how "healthy" you are. Think of them as information.

If something is heading in the wrong direction, finding out gives you the opportunity to talk to your doctor and decide what action is appropriate before problems develop.

Try this: If you don't know your current blood pressure, make that your starting point. Many pharmacies offer blood pressure checks, or speak to your GP practice. If you're aged 40–74 in England and eligible, you may also be invited for an NHS Health Check, which looks at factors including blood pressure and cholesterol.

6. Don't smoke - and reduce your exposure to smoke

If you smoke, stopping is one of the most significant things you can do for your cardiovascular health.

Chemicals in cigarette smoke encourage fatty material to build up in arteries, increase the likelihood of blood clots and reduce the amount of oxygen delivered around the body. Second-hand smoke is harmful too.

There is a brain-health reason to take this seriously as well. Smoking is associated with an increased risk of dementia, while stopping smoking can reduce that risk.

Try this: If you smoke, you don't have to rely on willpower alone. Make your first action finding out what stop-smoking support is available through your GP, pharmacy or local NHS service. If you don't smoke, simply continue protecting yourself from second-hand smoke where possible.

7. Make time to rest and recharge

We can eat well and exercise regularly, yet still overlook another important part of cardiovascular health: giving our bodies and brains enough time to recover.

Long periods of stress can affect our blood pressure, sleep and many of the everyday behaviours that influence cardiovascular health. And when life is busy, it can be surprisingly easy to stay permanently switched on.

Good sleep is an important part of the picture. If you regularly wake feeling unrefreshed, snore heavily or someone has noticed that you stop breathing during the night, it’s worth speaking to your GP. Sleep apnoea is associated with high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and dementia.

But rest isn’t only about sleep.

Taking time to switch off, unplug and have fun gives our body and brain a chance to step away from the demands and stimulation of everyday life.

That might mean getting outside, spending time with friends, doing something creative, playing a game, listening to music or simply putting your phone away and doing something that makes you lose track of time for a while.

Try this: Create a regular pocket of time when there is nothing to achieve. Switch off work, put the screens away and do something purely because you enjoy it. It could be an evening walk, some time in the garden, music, a hobby or simply ten quiet minutes at the end of the day. Rest and enjoyment aren't wasted time - they're part of looking after your health too.

Think long term

Keeping your blood vessels healthy isn't simply about reducing your risk of a heart attack or stroke. It’s about helping your body and brain continue to do the things that matter to you - walking where you want to walk, thinking clearly, remembering the people and experiences you treasure, and staying active and independent for as long as possible.

And you don’t need to tackle all seven of these things at once.

The choices that protect our health are often surprisingly ordinary: going for a walk, choosing a better breakfast, checking our blood pressure, building our strength, getting enough sleep or making time to switch off and enjoy life.

None of these actions may feel particularly significant on their own. But repeated over months and years, small choices can add up to meaningful change.

That’s one of the things I find so encouraging about ageing well; there is so much we can influence through the choices we make today.

So, rather than wondering whether you’re doing enough, choose one place to start.

*K. A. Tsvetanov, R. N. Henson, L. K. Tyler et al., "The Effect of Ageing on fMRI: Correction for the Confounding Effects of Vascular Reactivity Evaluated by Joint fMRI and MEG in 335 Adults," Human Brain Mapping 36, no. 6(2015): 48-69; doi: 10.1002/hbm.22768